The number of tasks carried out by a wireless terminal, such as a mobile station, has considerably increased as a result of advances in the mobile telecommunication technology. A mobile station is not used only for calls, but a mobile station can also be used to process and display information in an increasingly versatile manner. One of the most desirable properties of a wireless terminal is the ability to use Internet services, such as email and graphic www pages. Many other small portable terminals (e.g. PDA devices, Personal Digital Assistant) also comprise means, e.g. a WLAN card or a wired connection, for setting up an Internet connection.
Touchscreens are increasingly used in both PDA devices and mobile stations. To use the device, different selection elements (icons) are displayed on the screen, and touching them activates functions associated with the selection element. Many functions can be used by selecting suitable alternatives from menus and activating the desired function or setting by touching that particular point on the screen. However, the use of some applications is subject to text being entered via the touchscreen. For text entry, the keys of a QWERTY keyboard can be modelled onto a touchscreen (also known as a virtual keyboard). In addition to modelled keys or as an alternative entry mechanism, handwriting identification is also often used. The small size of the screen and the simultaneous display of several selection elements on the screen results in the elements on displayed on the screen being substantially small. Due to the small keys and handwriting identification, a touchscreen is generally used by means of a small writing device, i.e. a stylus, e.g. a small pen-shaped object.
This often complicates text entry, and particularly the editing of text existing on the screen. For example, editing the network address (URL address) of an Internet browser into the desired form is often laborious and cumbersome. Internet browsers generally use predictive text entry, i.e. when the user of the device starts to write a new network address in the address field of the browser, the browser's history data are searched for such a network address that, at least as regards the beginning of the address, comprises the same character string as the character string of the network address entered up to that point by the user. The browser program shows the network address found in the history data in the address field suggesting it for use to the user either as such or allowing the user to edit the character string in a suitable manner to generate the desired address.
A solution is known from what are known as palm-size computers (e.g. Palm™ OS4) for editing a character string, such as an Internet address, displayed on a screen, wherein the user first selects the part of the character string to be deleted by pointing (‘painting’) said characters with a stylus, after which the user has to either depress the ‘backspace’ key of the virtual keyboard or enter a symbol indicating the corresponding purpose in a handwriting entry field. The part of the character string selected by means of the backspace function is deleted. Furthermore, in said known solution, if the edited character string is the network address in the address field of the browser program, the browser program has to be separately activated by depressing the stylus if, the browser program is to start loading the network address defined by the edited character string.
In other words, to load a new network address, the user has to perform three separate tasks with the stylus in order for the browser program to start loading. From the point of view of usability, this is generally considered very laborious and slow. Accordingly, there is need for a simpler way of editing a character string on a touchscreen.